Children with special needs in two Waterford schools have had speech and language therapy withdrawn because of staff shortages.
Teachers at St John's School in Dungarvan and St Joseph's in Waterford city say pupils will suffer long-term consequences unless an adequate service is restored.
The South-Eastern Health Board informed staff at St John's on Monday it was suspending the speech and language therapy service. A therapist had been attending the school for one day a week.
The decision was described as a "huge retrograde step" by the school's acting principal, Ms Anna Kirwan, who said 17 of the 45 pupils required the service. "Language development is of the utmost importance to the children. It's a basic right to be able to communicate."
St Joseph's continues to receive a one-day-a-week service but this is a severe curtailment of what was previously available and is "totally inadequate" to meet the children's needs, according to the school's vice-principal, Ms Kathy O'Brien.
Ms Carmel Nairn, a member of a parents' support group set up to lobby for an improvement in the service, said 62 of the school's 131 pupils required speech and language therapy but only 14 were receiving it. "Some of the children will never be able to read and write and their only means of communication is speech," she said.
"Learning capability deteriorates as people get older and it's vital that they get the service at a young age." Parents had been lobbying politicians and Government agencies on the issue for two years, without success.
Mr Brian O'Shea, the Waterford-based Labour TD, said he was horrified that the service had been withdrawn and would be raising it with relevant Government Ministers and the South-Eastern Health Board.
The board said in a statement that its speech and language services in Dungarvan had been suspended temporarily in two locations.
St Joseph's was also affected by staff shortages, a spokeswoman said. "We do understand parents' concerns and we are trying to recruit speech and language therapists to restore a full service."
